Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) VP Michael E. Gioja Sells 26,428 Shares of Stock

Paychex, Inc. (NASDAQ:PAYX) VP Michael E. Gioja sold 26,428 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.03, for a total value of $3,674,284.84. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 14,515 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,018,020.45. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Paychex Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of PAYX stock opened at $139.29 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 1.38. The stock has a market cap of $50.13 billion, a PE ratio of 29.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.73 and a beta of 1.00. The business’s fifty day moving average is $131.10 and its 200-day moving average is $125.20. Paychex, Inc. has a 1 year low of $106.27 and a 1 year high of $142.04.

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 1st. The business services provider reported $1.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.31 billion. Paychex had a return on equity of 45.97% and a net margin of 31.98%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.14 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Paychex, Inc. will post 4.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Paychex Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 7th will be issued a $0.98 dividend. This represents a $3.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.81%. Paychex’s payout ratio is 83.58%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Paychex

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PAYX. CVA Family Office LLC grew its holdings in shares of Paychex by 5.6% during the third quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 1,388 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $186,000 after buying an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Paychex by 7.3% in the 3rd quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,717 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $1,035,000 after purchasing an additional 522 shares during the period. Exchange Bank bought a new stake in shares of Paychex in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $204,000. Guinness Asset Management LTD grew its stake in shares of Paychex by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 1,567,667 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $210,282,000 after purchasing an additional 68,627 shares during the period. Finally, Fiduciary Financial Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Paychex by 7.0% in the 3rd quarter. Fiduciary Financial Group LLC now owns 2,901 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $401,000 after purchasing an additional 190 shares during the period. 83.47% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Barclays raised their price target on Paychex from $118.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Citigroup raised their price target on Paychex from $125.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Bank of America raised their price target on Paychex from $111.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Paychex from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on Paychex from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Paychex currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $130.77.

About Paychex

Paychex, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides integrated human capital management solutions (HCM) for payroll, benefits, human resources (HR), and insurance services for small to medium-sized businesses in the United States, Europe, and India. It offers payroll processing services; payroll tax administration services; employee payment services; and regulatory compliance services, such as new-hire reporting and garnishment processing.